Access to the Internet must become a fundamental human right, otherwise we risk deepening inequalities: this is the appeal launched by the ethicist Merten Reglitz, of the British University of Birmingham, from the pages of the journal Politics Philosophy & Economics.
The appeal is motivated by the expert’s analysis, according to which the web is now indispensable to guarantee adequate opportunities to obtain basic socio-economic and human rights, such as access to work, health and social security.
Whether you live in rich or low-income countries, access to the internet has become a discriminating factor in order to take advantage of a fundamental set of services; on the contrary, not being connected to the network has great disadvantages.
“The Internet has a unique and fundamental value for the realization of many of our socio-economic human rights, enabling users to apply for jobs, send medical information to health care professionals, manage their finances and affairs, file social security claims, and present educational evaluations,” notes Reglitz in the study in which he examined the disadvantages of not being connected.
The value of the internet, he notes, is significant in rich countries, where, for example, the elderly find themselves in greater difficulty, and also in poorer countries where these problems take on a different declination and where, for example, young people find it difficult to have a bank account to be able to start a business or access to basic medical care. “The web – concludes the researcher – has a potential that should be protected and exploited by declaring access to the Internet a human right”.
Source: Ansa
I am a journalist with over 6 years of experience working in the news industry. I currently work as an author for Global Happenings, and my coverage focuses on Technology news. I have written for various publications, including Reuters, The New York Times and The Guardian.
